I was working on my proposal after revision today. I don’t actually like my proposal because it’s got so many annotations, so it looks scruffy. However, I realised this is something I have to tolerate, because the subsequent work I do if I eventually get onto doing a PhD, will look similar.
Going from level 7 writing to level 3 academic writing feels like respite, because level 3 is a lot more straightforward than level 7. I’m writing an assignment for applied science that’s due in soon. When I’m evaluating and writing the limitations of something on level 3, it is something that realistically happens in the real world, when I writing my proposal, I have to extend my academic voice with my own ideas and use a quotation from a heavily gate kept piece of literature as evidence that it’s already being researched, and then think how I could extend that further in that gap of research. I haven’t even thought about my methodology thoroughly yet, god forbid.
I spoke to some PhD researchers previously, and they mentioned that designing a proposal is harder than being on the programme. I don’t think they are kidding. It might be the lack of structure when one is outside, and it’s easier when there is some kind of formal routine, but I’m just assuming.
I aim to send my proposal to the university of my PhD choice, this time next year. This would give me time to make subsequent changes and find a supervisor by September 2028.
I don’t even know if it would work, but I ought to try. If I do a PhD part time, then I can work for a certain amount of hours. (promises promises…)